BUSINESS BIO

Where is the enterprise based? East London, in the borough of Tower Hamlets.

Key business markets: Health

Annual turnover: £3.5m

% income earned from trading (as opposed to grants): 40%

Number of employees: Around 100 in the centre and around 40 in the general practice plus a number of volunteers

www.bbbc.org.uk

ambassadors

Sam Everington

Sam Everington
  • Bromley by Bow Centre

  • Founding partner and GP

  • East London

There’s a healthy hub in east London where you can not only pick up a prescription, but improve every aspect of your life.

It was 25 years ago that the Bromley by Bow centre opened its doors, transforming a church with a dwindling congregation to a thriving community and health centre.

Now, through a partnership between the private, public and voluntary sectors, it serves thousands of people in east London with more than 100 community projects, a GP practice and social enterprises providing everything from landscape gardening to leadership classes.

Social Enterprise Ambassador Dr Sam Everington is at the heart of the centre, working as a GP in its surgery (which has a waiting room that doubles as an art gallery) and supporting many of the other projects within the centre.

Its success is because, he says, the centre is for everyone and belongs to everyone – it provides a unique opportunity for a diverse mix of people to meet each other (regardless of age, sex or ethnicity) and the usage of the centre reflects the borough’s diversity. “My office is only seen as mine because I clean it!” Even the building has been designed to bring people together.

“From a GP perspective, it’s about being able to prescribe more than medication,” he says.

“If I have a patient who’s depressed, getting them a job can be far more important than prescribing them anti-depressants.”

The ethos of tackling issues in a holistic way is even evident in Bromley by Bow’s structure, both physical and managerial. Several of the overall charity’s arms are businesses in their own right, such as the general practice, but they can be linked to other social enterprises in terms of service provision.

If I have a patient who’s depressed, getting them a job can be far more important than prescribing them anti-depressants.

“We are managed by a board, but our secret is that we’re all about relationships and our can-do culture,” says Sam, who was an RAF cadet pilot while studying medicine. “Even the building is designed so you’re always bumping into people. It’s a key feature – the most important business gets done in the kitchen or reception, where everyone meets. Small things like that are critical to its function.

“The centre’s structure as a whole works extremely well and is very effective,” he adds, explaining the importance of working together as one giant team. ‘Whereas a social enterprise in isolation might struggle, we have got a whole load of support. It might be something as small as feeling ill – there’s a doctor on site!”

And the tight-knit centre has proven its worth, not only in its own community, but across the UK.

Its ever-evolving structure and cross-sector partnerships have been of considerable interest to other organisations, social entrepreneurs and policy-makers across the UK, helping to shape similar initiatives.

It’s also managing to influence how the NHS is contracting out its own services. For example, Bromley by Bow is instrumental in improving health care services in its borough of Tower Hamlets through the Department of Health’s £2bn Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) programme and is a model for such new organisations as a leisure centre and GP surgery in Barnsley.

“We feel that we are helping all sectors understand the benefits,” says Sam, who regularly advises the Department of Health, “but the most important aspect is the impact it will have in the long term.”

Quick Facts

  • 30 government ministers have visited the Bromley by Bow Centre in the past four years, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
  • 90% of the community use the centre at least once a year, 1/3 on regular basis.
  • Bromley by Bow CEO Rob Trimble once lived at the centre – his daughter was born in what is now the finance office.
  • The Bromley by Bow Centre was found by Lord Andrew Mawson, a cross party Lord, who was sent to the Tower hamlets parish as a vicar in 1984. He is now campaigning to turn post-Olympic east London into a water city – England’s little Venice.
  • The Bromley by Bow Centre began life as a community nursery, but grew to accommodate all of the communities needs – include a short life as a boat yard.

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